Hanwha Life Esports: They lit the rocket!
HLE have made a breakthrough in the transfer market, with ambitions to regain their lost throne by recruiting a roster of three world champions, two players who have set foot in the world semi-finals. Due to the creation of a strong team, the public is looking forward to HLE with the name of “Super Team” in LCK Spring 2023. But the reality is sad because of the efforts and expectations that HLE has set.
Opening the spring 2023 LCK season, HLE unfortunately stumbled on a long slide in their initial losing streak in their three first legs. Faced with strong pressure and a newly built roster that is still quite fragmented, HLE is no longer a strong candidate to compete for the top spot with its rivals. Therefore, before the confrontation of HLE with T1, most of the fans speculated with an easy victory for T1.
Head to head HLE vs T1
However, reality shows, nothing can be said in advance! Facing a strong and persistent T1 through the rounds, and an HLE with diminishing form and sporadic teamwork, the confrontation between these two warriors brought viewers an unexpected score!
2-1 win for HLE!
A score that surprised viewers with the teamwork and enhanced skills of the HLE players, as well as the need to rethink the strategies that T1 is trying, is it really useful?
Coach Choi “DanDy” In-kyu emphasized the importance of the bot lane ahead of the T1 match and shared that HLE’s bot lane Viper lived up to his expectations. Viper used the cards Varus, Lucian, and Draven in the match to help HLE win spectacularly against the T1 heavyweight.
You finally gave a good performance that lived up to the expectations of the fans. What has changed here?
We tried to remember how we were in scrims and when we were officially in the LCK. After the feedback was made, we understood the crux of the problem the team was facing.
Either we are too careful or we are more nervous and scared playing in the LCK than training together. So some things need to be fixed around team communication and ban/selection. One of the biggest problems is that we don’t get as many calls during the game as we do during scrims.
They lost to GENG, KT Rolster, and Liiv SANDBOX, but the team won against the only team yet to be defeated, T1. How do you feel about that?
We believe that if the team plays as we train and prepare, victory will come. Today is proof of that. Although T1 is a team that has not lost a single game, it still has its weaknesses. We believe that if we prepare well, we can still win.
It seems that you play with more energy when the team gets more gold advantage. In your opinion, what are the conditions for the team to play well?
Playing with a relaxed mind is very important. In the match, it depends on where we focus our resources. In the recent meta, the lane bot is the most important position, so I think I need to take advantage of this resource.
We have a lot of strong champions in lane, as well as carry-oriented champions like Zeri or Lucian. Ironically though, a strong winger can’t carry much into the late game, so I need to put a lot of early game pressure on him.
Viper shared a 2-1 victory in the match against T1
Chess champions like Jayce have been coming around a lot lately. What do you think caused this change?
Champions like Jayce, Ziggs or Jhin are the preferred option. Win the lane first, then push the opponent.
The situation changed in game 1 and game 2. What made the game change?
Game 1, like our other games, the communication between the team was not good. In game 2 things got better, we won after that.
Does your Lucian seem stronger than the other Lucian players?
Lucian is a pretty easy champion for me, even better when paired with Nami. however, we want to break that duo when it comes to T1. When they chose Nami first, we chose Lucian and Yuumi. They will feel uncomfortable with the Draven – Nami duo.
Game 3, Draven and Kassadin were picked very early. Will these champions usually be picked last?
When we looked at the first two cards of T1, we thought that Kassadin would be a strong champion to take on. For Draven, we picked this champion because we didn’t want to lose lane to our opponents. Draven is a great option to prioritize in lane compared to the rest of the champions.
You didn’t let your opponent kill anyone in game 3, are you sure you’ll keep it up?
After picking and banning, I figured we wouldn’t lose in a 3v3 teamfight. Jinx and Soraka, including the jungler, aren’t strong enough for a 3v3 fight yet.
You have been playing with your Life partner, compared to other Supporters, how do you see it?
He is a player with a lot of potential. They are still getting better together.
HELL life
Is there a team you still keep in touch with in the LPL? How do you see playing EDG?
It seems that Invictus Gaming is doing very well. Although EDG recently lost, they are still very good players, so I think they will do well.
You played with many teams. So do you have any solution to improve HLE performance?
We have already shown how well we can play against T1. The LCK season is still long, “It’s a long way to meet a good horse” (original: how we end it is the most important thing). We will become a team full of laughter until the end.
See Also: Faker Officially Granted The Right To Buy SK Telecom T1 Shares
